Gentle Nights
by CatTheory
Summary: Aoi works the graveyard shift at a homey restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Usually it's as barren as a ghost town, but one day one of the most amazing and inspiring women she's ever met finds her way into it and into her life. Non-despair AU in which they're both out of high school and Aoi's training for the Olympics.
Rosy red apples appeared on the little girl's cheeks as her face broke into a grin. Her blond curls bounced as she pranced around, arms tightly wound with those of her sister. Though her sister was taller, it was almost as if it were one girl looking into a mirror. Aoi couldn't help but smile at the joyous interaction. She didn't notice the slow decent of her sneakers into the suddenly spongey earth through her slight amusement until it was too late. The soil had covered her neck and was creeping ever steadily towards her face. She began to panic, frantically moving her limbs around until she had no choice but to give in. She took one, deep breath as her skull was swallowed whole by the murky depths.

Though she should feel the pressure of the earth around her, it felt like she had been transported to some sort of room instead. It was still completely pitch black, no matter how much she strained to see anything. A spotlight turned on with a loud _cachunk_ , focusing on Aoi and burning itself into her retinas. As she blinked wildly, the spots dancing around her vision finally lessened and she was able to make out her surroundings. She was sitting on the cold concrete floor of what looked like a storage house for construction equipment. There was a forklift, an empty cement mixer, and even a crane. She stared up at the crane, but couldn't find the end of it. It only seemed to go up and up into the darkness. The further out she looked, the less she could see.

Abruptly, a piercing alarm blazed through the room, seeming to reverberate infinitely off of every surface. It sounded incredibly urgent, and Aoi was again stricken with fear. What could this possibly be? A fire alarm? Some kind of…quarantine?

And that was when she awoke to the unholy whining of her alarm clock.

She half-groaned and half screamed as she pressed her palms into her eyes, writhing and wriggling around in the covers of her bed. If she had any sense, her first instinct would be to turn off the alarm, but one can only expect so much out of a girl that has to work the graveyard shift at a no-name family-owned restaurant in the middle of nowhere. She wasn't spiteful towards them, though. They were gentle people and the generous salary they awarded to her was enough to carry her through the immediate costs of going through college. No, the thing she absolutely _loathed_ , was getting up at such an early hour. Ridiculous! Luckily, she could be counted as a morning person as soon as she got ready for work. She didn't even need any coffee.

That aside, in that morning getting out of bed seemed to Aoi like the hardest thing she ever had to do. She finally turned the alarm off and the incessant beeping finally ceased. She sighed deeply, waiting a moment before quite literally rolling out of bed.

Once she was up, though, she was up. Aoi jumped up, the sudden activity already getting her in the mindset of getting stuff done. She strode markedly towards the bathroom with long, quick strides. She set the alarm as late as possible for obvious reasons.

She brushed her teeth with fervor, giggling a little bit to herself at the squinchy faces she made in the mirror. She started to hum Mary Poppins's "A Spoonful of Sugar" as she clothed herself in a button-down shirt, slacks, and some inappropriately colorful and mismatched socks. It wasn't like anyone was going to see them. Swiftly pulling her hair into a high ponytail, she glanced at the full length mirror and swept her eyes up and down her figure. Aoi decided she was decent and grinned at herself in the mirror. She spun around and sprinted out of the bathroom, using the last couple feet before where her shoes were placed to slide in like a baseball player. She tagged her shoes, chuckling as she yelled, "Safe!" She lay there for a moment more. "Ah, I love living alone," she breathed.

Remembering her original purpose, she sat up and grabbed the shoes she had previously used as a plate and shoved them onto her feet, quickly doing up the laces. She jumped up and rushed out the door, grabbing the knapsack she had placed by the door the night before.

The cool part about biking at night was that in a small town like hers, there wasn't a single car in sight. So that meant she could bike all over the road, even stop to sit smack dab in the middle of it if she wanted to! Not that she would do that, because she needed to speed it up if she wanted to make it there before the co-owner's internal clock kicked in. She swore, the _only_ thing they were strict about was her arrival time. There had been some close calls and even times she'd been caught red-handed trying to sneak in through the window to the kitchen. Admittedly…that'd been a really stupid idea of hers. It would've been easier to just 'fess up right away. But oh, well, _c'est la vie_. At least, she thought that was the right phrase to use in this circumstance. The other co-owner used it all the time in response to her mistakes. What a saint! She was so nice to her.

Focusing again on where she was going, she stood up on her bike and began to pedal as fast as she could. It brought back memories of when she had won the state cup in the cycling finals in high school her second year. Her swift feet brought her all the way up to the curb of the restaurant and she jumped off into a stop. Aoi dug through her knapsack frenziedly and brought out a bike chain, lassoing it around a sign that read "NO PARKING 8 P.M. THRU 5 A.M." and spun it around the front of her bike until the tail hit her wrist. Whining a bit from the pain, she dug out the key for the lock on the chain from her bag and didn't waste a second in locking that puppy up. She sprinted into the restaurant with not a moment to spare.

" _Tssk_ , Hina, you were almost late again!" Her coworker, Hotaka, was admonishing her, but she could tell he wasn't being completely serious. Right? It was so hard to tell with him…

"Aha-ha…" she laughed apologetically, gripping the hair on the back of her head above her ponytail. "Not that you really need me here!" she noted, gesturing to the barren state of the restaurant.

"Oh, you know they just keep us here to do dishes and clean up the place," he remarked. It was true, though they were advertised as a 24 hour joint, no one ever came at this hour of the night. The slow work made Aoi antsy at times, but it could be worse. She swiped her apron off of the hook by the door and put it on.

"Let's have a high five for good luck! I don't want to die of boredom today." Aoi held up her hand for her coworker to smack.

"Yeah. Good luck to both of us." He nodded resignedly and completed the high five.

With a sigh, Aoi ambled over to her designated stool and plopped down on it. She rested her head on her hands with her elbows on the table. It was likely it would be only a moment before her bosses reappeared out of their offices, but until then she intended to use all of her time brooding and thinking about…pretty much everything.

She was really lonely these days…but it was kind of hard to meet or talk to new people when she was only awake for a really small portion of the day that most people were awake for. Sure, she practiced with the team in the evenings, but everyone there didn't seem very receptive to her warm advances. Everyone was too focused on competition to…stop and smell the roses. Aoi was competitive too, but she found a lot of value in getting to know her teammates.

Just as she was about to get up to go see if there was work to be done somewhere else, an astonishing young woman walked in the door, passing right by her on her way to a booth. She sat rather daintily in it and picked up the menu, surveying it.

The reason Aoi had marked her as "astonishing" was because she had a very unique body. Not to be mean, and certainly not to be creepy! She'd just never seen anyone like her before in her life—in a good way! As she'd walked past her, she'd towered over her and she had had the most muscular legs of anyone she'd ever seen in that restaurant. She leaned forward on her stool, tipping it forward a bit as she stopped herself with her hands on the table and her eyes almost glittered as she, for lack of a better word, stared at the newcomer.

She _must've_ been some sort of athlete (bodybuilder?), because her arms were toned to no end (as was pretty much every other part of her body) and she walked with a certain grace even though anyone else that size would bumble around wherever they went. She had long, wild white hair that Aoi was just kind of itching to put her hands in and braid. She was super, _super_ pretty. She had a sharp nose that complemented her appearance perfectly and despite the fact that many people would be scared of her because of the noticeable scar marked across her face and her size, Aoi just got the impression that she was really a gentle giant. Her dark skin just looked… really soft.

She shook herself out of looking at her and glanced around the restaurant, finding that her coworker had gone back into the kitchen. Good! She did most of the waitressing anyways because she really was an awful cook, but in this case she was a little more interested in taking the woman's order. Perhaps she could ask for her name and talk to her a little about her workouts or what she did for a living?

She approached her as bouncy as ever, her sneakers squeaking a bit on the shiny linoleum floor. As Aoi came to a stop in front of the woman, she looked up at her and had a hint of a smile on her lips. Aoi broke into a grin the size of Jupiter. How precious! "How can I help you tonight?" she asked, producing a small notebook from the main front pocket of her apron.

"Yes…" She surveyed the menu a moment longer before laying it in front of her and lacing her hands together on top of the table. "I would like the mushroom and onion omelet as well as a pot of earl grey tea, please?"

Protein! That was respectable. Aoi took a quick glance at the clock above the cash register at the front of the restaurant. 4 A.M. was an interesting time for someone to have breakfast. "Coming right up!"  
She scrawled the order onto her notebook and tore out the page. She strolled over to the kitchen window and tacked the order up on the string they had hanging low in front of it with a clothespin. "Order up!" she shouted, leaning into the window.

"Okay, okay, I gotcha." Hotaka walked up to it and plucked it off the string, smirking a little bit at Aoi. It was kind of his resting facial expression.

Not bothering to reply, she walked back down to where the woman was sitting and looked inquisitively at her. "Can I sit here?" She patted the booth on the opposite side of her.

"Certainly." The woman nodded.

A little giddy, but trying her hardest not to show it, Aoi plopped down in the seat. "What's your name?" she asked, kicking her legs back and forth under the table.

"Oogami Sakura. May I ask you what yours is?" Aoi beamed, starting to scribble her name on her left hand with her right. It was unlikely that she would forget it even if she didn't do this trick, though. How could she forget a name like that? It fit her perfectly. She was as gentle, as pretty, and as sturdy as a sakura tree.

"I'm Asahina Aoi! Lots of people call me Hina." She really doubted that Oogami-san was the type to use nicknames, though.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." She nodded again, smiling in that subtle way of hers. It was actually really endearing.

Aoi, never the one to be lost for words in a conversation, started to ask the questions that had been making her brain itch. "What brings you here for breakfast so early in the morning? Usually it's _completely_ empty in here until around 5 A.M. Unless you're travelling somewhere…?" Aoi didn't think there was anything to do for 30 miles on the road out of this town. Maybe she was going home…

"Yes, I am travelling to a competition. It's been quite a long ride so far…" She trailed off. Aoi winced. She got carsick in an instant and cars were just too cramped and there was absolutely nothing to do in them except listen to the same pop song sixteen-hundred different times. She really felt for her.

"What's the competition for?" She obviously had some sort of fantastic athletic ability. Honestly, she was quickly becoming Aoi's new idol. She hoped she could see her compete sometime.

"It is a judo competition. I do not usually compete in these sorts of events, but I was assured that the rules were kept fair there and the community was not vulgar and was appropriate to my tastes."

"Why don't you usually compete, Oogami-san?" She certainly had the ability to make a real name for herself, but Aoi had never seen her anywhere else before on the news…

"It is not my intention to treat my strength so frivolously. It is simply my wish to become the strongest person on Earth," she said resolutely.

 _Wow…she was amazing…_

"Ah, really? That's so…" she struggled for words, awed by her resolution. "…Honorable! I wish I could be like you."

Completely seriously, Sakura looked into her eyes. "I think you have many great talents of your own, Asahina-san. You are great in your own way."

"Eh? Really?" She laughed a little, glancing away from her intense gaze as her cheeks warmed a little bit. "You really think so?" She hadn't really said anything that would warrant a comment like that from her…

"Yes…I am sorry for not telling you sooner, but I recognize you. Your accomplishments in the Olympic Trials were simply stunning. You qualified in the 400 Individual Medley to compete for Japan, correct? As well as the 800 meter freestyle and 200 meter butterfly."

"Wow, I can't believe you watched the Olympic Trials on TV! Usually no one cares about them until the actual Olympics start happening. But really, that's nothing. It's not like I've broken any world records or anything!" _Yet…_ She definitely wanted to shatter a few and leave her mark on the world.

"Your list of accomplishments is still lengthy and nothing to scoff at. I do look forward to watching you compete on a large scale this summer in Rio." A conflicted look came over Sakura's face. "I am sorry if I have embarrassed you, however." She smiled amiably at the swimmer.

It was surprising that someone like her had recognized her. She was becoming a more well-known name in the swimming community, but it was uncommon that someone who didn't have any interest in swimming knew who she was. For some reason, this made Aoi a little guilty for not knowing who Sakura was, but she'd certainly not forget her from now on. Besides, she never competed, right? So it made sense that she wouldn't know who she was.

"No, you haven't embarrassed me! Thank you for the compliments, it means a lot! I'll think of you when I race this summer," she laughed as she spoke, giving Sakura a thumbs-up.

There was a pause of silence before Aoi opened her mouth to ask another question and was cut off by Hotaka announcing that Sakura's order was ready. "Ah—oh. That's my cue." Knowing her bosses, she would likely be caught up doing something else until it was time to clean her table up. An uneasy feeling settled over her. She'd ask for her number after she ate. It would really be a shame if this was the last time they ever talked...Aoi got the feeling she would get caught up in some kind of menial task assigned to her.

"I look forward to speaking with you again soon, Asahina-san."

"Me too!"

Aoi disappeared into the kitchen and brought her food out with a smile, setting it gently in front of Sakura. Phew. She'd kind of had fleeting visions of her dropping it all over the floor, which had happened more than once before. That would have been very not good. As she was about to sit back down into the booth, Hotaka's voice rang from the kitchen. Her legs tensed and she ended up in a squatting position.

"Hina! Can you get back here? Abe-san wants you to clean up back here." Aoi groaned. Which Abe-san it was, she had no clue, but she had no choice but to attend to the whims of either of them. They _were_ her bosses, after all.

"I guess that means I can't stay here and talk to you while you eat…to be honest, I kind of expected that. It's probably better this way!" She laughed. "You wouldn't want me to babble on to you while you tried to enjoy your breakfast anyways."

"I wouldn't mind it all that much. It would actually be quite a pleasant thing. I will not, however, keep your from your work." Sakura gestured towards the kitchen, nodding at Aoi to go back to it where Hotaka was waiting.

"Ah, really? That's totally sweet of you. But, yeah, see you later!" She waved on her way back to the kitchen and Sakura waved back, watching her retreating form with a smile.

As expected, even though Aoi hurried through washing the grimy stovetops and counters in the kitchen, it didn't get done quickly. The first time she completed it she had asked the female Abe-san if it was satisfactory enough for her and she had completely rejected it and asked her to do it all over again.

"Sure! Yeah, totally, I can do it again." Even though she was enthusiastic on the outside, on the inside she kind of wanted to scream a little. But, oh well…she peered out the window and saw that Sakura was still there, daintily sipping her tea. Hotaka was washing tables and checking on her every so often, it seemed. Aoi personally thought she had the short end of the stick, but all she could do was keep at it.

When she'd done another speed run through the kitchen, she asked Abe-san if _that_ was good enough. Aoi kind of got the feeling she was just taking pity on her or just knew what was going on, but she consented that it was an alright job. Pumping her fist in the air, Aoi headed out to talk to Sakura again.

If she hadn't known better, she would think that Sakura had been stalling for her. But she totally wouldn't do that, right? She was just a slow tea-drinker. Well, she _did_ have an entire pot of the stuff. She sat in the seat across from her again. "Hello again!"

"Hello again, Asahina-san." There was a bit of amusement in her voice.

"Um…I'm sorry if this is a weird thing to ask so soon, but I wanted to talk to you again someday, so…can I ask for your phone number?" Aoi crossed her fingers under the table, and then her toes for good measure.

"I would provide you with my phone number if I had a cell phone. I am sorry. But, I do have an AIM account that I check rather frequently. If you would like to contact me that would probably be the best place to do it."

An AIM account…? Really? Aoi giggled a little bit. It was typical that she would be the kind of person to have something old-timey like that. "Ah, I don't actually have an AIM account! But I'd be willing to make one for you." At first she had the idea of making up a random string of letters and numbers to use as her account name so Sakura could contact her on her own, but she quickly vetoed that when she realized it would be about as effective to ask for her username and then make an account of her own to contact her with. "What's your username on it?"

"It's proteinshakes99. I do apologize if it sounds juvenile; I made the account as a girl."

"No, that's a totally respectable username! I like it! Mine'll probably be super lame, but that's okay."  
They spent the next few minutes chatting back and forth, admiring the sun as it crested the horizon. It was a myriad of reds, yellows, oranges, and even a little purple. Alas, Aoi thought, all good things must come to an end. Sakura had finished her tea several minutes ago and she got the feeling that she would have to leave soon.

"It has been wonderful conversing with you, Asahina-san, and I hope to see you more in the future," Sakura said, proving Aoi right. That was definitely a "wrap-up" question. She wasn't as sad as she had been before about it, though. Now she could probably send her a message whenever she wanted to.

"It was really great talking to you for me as well! I'll try and see if I can catch you on TV this weekend!" Aoi stood up with her as she talked.

"I apologize, but I must take my leave now if I want to get to the hotel on time…"

"Ah, yeah, I figured. But you don't want to be late! What are you waiting for!?" Aoi laughed.

Sakura looked like she was about to say goodbye again, but made up her mind to leave. Aoi waved at her as she left the restaurant.

With a sigh, she laid back into the booth and pulled out her phone from her back pocket. She logged into the free wifi and checked to see if there was an AIM app. Upon confirming that there was, she put her phone back into her pocket and stood up, stretching. She was on duty, after all…the Abe-sans were probably a little cross that she was slacking on the job.

With thoughts of her conversations with Sakura still bouncing around in her head, she returned to the kitchen in a pretty light mood.

* * *

 **It's been a long time since I wrote something here. I'm not quite sure of where this will go, but expect anything. I haven't exactly planned anything out. I do have some vague ideas...  
I'm not totally happy with this, and I think it's kind of a drag, but those things aren't exactly rousing endorsements of my story, so I'm going to keep on the positive side of things. I'm happy to be posting this and I hope you've enjoyed the fruits of my labor.**  
 **Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**


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